This application is based upon and claims priority of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-69950 filed on Mar. 14, 2000, No. 2000-75767 filed on Mar. 17, 2000, and No. 2001-22259 filed on Jan. 30, 2001, the contents being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to services carried out by a plurality of cites, and more particularly to such services each for delivering product to destination designated by a customer.
2. Description of Related Art
In this field of the art, various types of service systems have been proposed. A service of accepting an order from a customer to make a print of digital image data is one of the typical services in this field of the art.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.10-13589 has proposed “to connect image input devices located at a plurality of shop fronts to a remotely located high speed image output device with transmission lines for transmitting a digital image which has been originated from a negative film or a print, to the output devices by way of a spooler at a remote laboratory for the purpose of producing extra print at a remote site.”
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.11-154218 has proposed that “a service center for accepting an order for print service is in communication through a network with mini-laboratories or a special laboratory located at various places, in which a center server of the service center selects and assigns a print producing laboratory the order in accordance with an order information from a customer transmitted through the network, whereby the print production can be carried out not by the center server, but by a desired laboratory.”
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.11-154218 has proposed that an order data including an image data and an delivery destination data is transmitted from a terminal of a customer through servers to a managing center controlling a plurality of laboratory systems corresponding to the destinations, the managing center specifying a laboratory system in accordance with the delivery destination data upon receiving the order data for the purpose of transmitting the order data to the laboratory system, which produces the print of the image in the order data and prints the destination on an envelope in accordance with the delivery destination data in the order data, the print being contained into the envelop.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.11-4311 has proposed another example of a network connection between an image handling terminal located at a site such as a photo service shop and a server computer for centrally managing digital images.
However, there have been problems and disadvantages still left in the related arts. For example, the related arts have not satisfactorily fulfilled the demand by the customers on the convenience and cost of the service.